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ISTHMIA
Corinthia, Greece.

In ancient literature, the name refers to the Isthmian Festival, held
every two years in the Sanctuary of Poseidon on the
Isthmus of Corinth. As a geographical designation
“Isthmia,” with accent on the second syllable, is a modern form.

The Corinthians credited their king Sisyphos with
the founding of the Isthmian Games at the funeral of
the boy Melikertes-Palaimon, who was drowned in the
Saronic Gulf and brought to the Isthmus on the back
of a dolphin; the Athenians claimed that their hero
Theseus was the founder. In the 49th Olympiad, 582-578 B.C., the games were reorganized as a Panhellenic
festival and were thenceforth held biennially in the spring,
in even years B.C. and in odd years A.D. The Corinthians
had charge of the games except for a time after the destruction of Corinth in 146 B.C., when the Sikyonians
assumed management and possibly transferred the games
to Sikyon.

The cult of Poseidon was established as early as the
8th c. B.C. The first temple, built about 700 B.C., was a
Doric building with 7 x 19 wooden columns. The walls
were of stone, with painted panels on the exterior. East
of the temple was a large sacrificial area, now strewn
with ash, burned animal bones, and smooth pebbles,
the latter probably brought by worshipers to be used for
symbolic participation in the slaying of the victims. The
archaic temple was destroyed by fire about 470 B.C. and
a new temple, also Doric, with 6 x 13 columns, was
erected before 450 B.C. Severely damaged by fire in 390
B.C., it was restored and remained standing until Early
Christian times. A marble torso of a colossal female
figure, found in the temple, is probably from a cult
statue of Amphitrite, worshiped together with Poseidon.
A later cult group, described by Pausanias, consisted of
chryselephantine statues of Poseidon and Amphitrite
standing in a four-horse chariot flanked by tritons. There
was also a statue of Palaimon nearby. An altar, 40 m
long, stood E of the temple. Pebbles like those from the
sacrificial area of earlier times lie scattered along the
front of the altar foundation.

A little to the SW of the temple but outside the precinct proper, is an immense well, ca. 5 in in diameter and
nearly 20 in deep. Abandoned as a well about the middle of the 5th c. B.C., it was subsequently used as a
refuse pit.

Little remains of the precinct wall from the Greek
period except foundations of two propylons, one on the
E, the other on the N. In the 1st c. A.D. a precinct of
smaller size was built with a gateway at the E end and
probably one at the W. A new altar of more modest
dimensions was then constructed. Still later the temenos
was enlarged as a quadrangle with stoas of the Ionic
order on the S, E, and W, and a precinct wall on the N.
No altar from that period has been discovered; it may
have stood on the earlier altar foundation close to the
temple. There was a monumental propylon in the SE
corner and two smaller gateways, one at the E end, the
other at the W.

Adjacent to the SE corner of the Precinct of Poseidon
was the Palaimonion, an extensive cult area covering
the NW end of the abandoned earlier stadium. All the
buildings are of Roman date. The precinct contained
three sacrificial pits and a circular temple, underneath
which is a crypt in which oaths were administered. Terracotta lamps, found scattered in front of the temple,
would have been used in the nocturnal rites of the mystery cult, at which black bullocks were sacrificed to the
hero. In the temple was a statue of Melikertes-Palaimon
lying on a dolphin.

The earlier stadium, which was close to the Temple
of Poseidon, measured ca. 192 m in length. It had
16 lanes with unique starting gates (balbides) of wood
erected on a stone sill. In its second period the racecourse was shortened to ca. 181 m. A new starting line
was made of stone with a single groove and with wooden
posts set in lead. In Hellenistic times this stadium was
abandoned and a new stadium built in a natural hollow
some 250 m from the Precinct of Poseidon.

The theater is located some fifty m to the NE of the
Precinct of Poseidon. Its original construction, with rectilinear orchestra, goes back to about 400 B.C. It was twice
rebuilt in Greek times and twice by the Romans, first
probably for Nero's visit in A.D. 67 and again a century
later. Both Roman reconstructions remained unfinished.

Above the theater is a cult cave divided into two
compartments, each provided with dining couches. The
chambers were entered through open courts in which
meals were prepared to be served inside, probably to
members of some sacred guild. The cave fell into disuse
about 350 B.C. In the NE corner of the Poseidon precinct
was a similar cave, also with two chambers, and close to
it a raised area which probably held an altar. West of
the Temple of Poseidon are the W waterworks, containing a small room with a water tank; this may have
functioned as a baptisterion in some cult of Chthonic
deities. There is a well-preserved underground reservoir
a little NW of the temple. South of the sanctuary is a
prominent ridge, on which are ruins of a textile establishment dating from Hellenistic times.

Some 400 m SW of the Poseidon precinct was the
Sacred Glen, which contained shrines of Artemis, Dionysos, Demeter and Kore, and Eueteria. About 2 km W
of the temple is a pi-shaped foundation which must have
supported some unroofed structure, perhaps the cult
place of some deity or hero worshiped in connection with
the horse races. The hippodrome may have been close
to the monument.

The movable finds from the excavations are to be exhibited in a museum, now being constructed close to the
modern road S of the Precinct of Poseidon. It will house
the antiquities from the Isthmian sanctuary as well as
those from Kenchreai and from other nearby sites.
Among the sculptures from Isthmia is a large marble
bowl, perirrhanterion, carried on the heads of four female figures, each standing on a lion and holding its
tail in one hand and a leash in the other. This sophisticated piece from about 650 B.C. stood at the entrance
into the archaic temple and served worshipers and priests
for the ritual washing of hands.